Marrying a French woman and having a younger brother return to Germany and working/studying in Germany, France, Switzerland and Spain widened my horizons considerably. Attending University in Scotland made me more aware of other languages on the Britain/Ireland archipelago. The reason you don't understand a lot of Scottish people is that they are on not speaking English, but Lallans (Lowland Scots) Scots which is closely related to English, but isn't the same. There is another language altogether in the North and West, Gaelic. My first two best friends and then (a third person) the love of my life (sad story) were all Irish with reasonable notions of the Irish language, Gaelige (cousin of Scots Gaelic). One friend, Paudric (of course) and I used to run through the streets late at night singing the Soldier's Song (the Irish national anthem) in Gaelige, not a wise thing to do in protestant parts of a Scottish city - we did a lot of running away!

So there you are. OK, for starters my fave song in Spanish - ¡Hasta siempre, Comandante! - because I'm a pinko commie trans lesbian. I love the idea of 'circular push' for 'lay siege'